Features – Page 13 – Fishermens News

Nigiri Project Rears Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Winter-Flooded Rice Fields

A fisheries research project using winter-flooded California rice fields as a nursery for juvenile Chinook salmon is being hailed for its potential to reverse the drastic decline of this economically and culturally important fish over the past century. The Nigiri Project, which has been ongoing since 2011, takes its name from the sushi-like marriage of fish and rice. Nigiri sushi is a Japanese dish made with sushi rice hand formed into a small clump and capped with a layer of fish. The project is a collaborative effort of the University of California, Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, the California Department of Water Resources and California Trout, a 50-year-old nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore wild trout, steelhead, salmon and their waters throughout...

Marine Business Updates

Naval Architects Re-Organize as Hockema Group The longtime West Coast firm of Hockema Whalen Myers Associates, Inc. kicked off 2021 with management changes that have resulted in a new name for the company, which specializes naval architecture and marine engineering. Hockema Group’s president is now John Myers; Michael Minnig will take on Myers’ former role of vice president and senior principal, while Craig Pomeroy is now the principal naval architect. Founder Hal Hockema will ease back and continue on a part-time basis as an advisor. The group’s last fishing vessel project was the plan for the completion of a 58-foot x 27-foot x 11-foot steel hull that was begun by Delta Marine in Seattle almost a decade ago. The bare hull was kept in a warehouse for about five years until it was bough...

Pandemic, Changing Markets Pose Challenges for Bering Sea Fisheries

Harvesters who annually deliver millions of pounds of wild Alaska seafood from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands are facing new challenges these days: an ongoing global pandemic that has perhaps forever changed the way they operate, and the industry’s markets themselves. For a second consecutive season, groundfish and shellfish harvesters operating in these often stormy, icy waters are prioritizing their responsibility to keep their employees and the coastal communities they work in safe from the novel coronavirus, while continuing to operate in changing markets. “The greatest challenge for 2021 is to continue to stay operational across multitudes of fisheries and communities across Alaska, while protecting those communities and our workforce from COVID-19, so that we can continue to...

Fishermen’s News 2021 Deck Gear & More Survey

Kolstrand Expands Product Lines with Acquisition of Nordic/JK Fabrication It’s been nine months since Integrity Machining, Inc., maker of Kolstrand marine deck equipment, announced the acquisition of the assets of Seattle, Wash.-based J.K. Fabrication, Inc., maker of Nordic winches. Fishermen’s News called them recently to learn how the merger was succeeding during Washington state’s Covid restrictions. “The entire team from JK Fabrication came across and have stayed with us at Integrity Machining’s much larger facility in Marysville, Wash. This has significantly expanded Kolstrand’s already broad product line, to create a leader in the production and supply of all types of equipment for the entire fishing industry,” Integrity Machining President Paul Glyer explained. “This has create...